Main navigation

Live Button Menu

New disaster looms in Syria: France

Sunday 15 April 2018 - 12:04pm

Palestinian protesters chant slogans and wave the flags of Palestine, Syria and Iran during a demonstration against strikes carried out by the United States, Britain and France against Syria's regime, in Gaza City on April 14, 2018.

PARIS - French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian warned Sunday that a new humanitarian disaster was looming in Syria, in the rebel-held region of Idlib, seen as the next possible target of the regime&39;s fightback.

In an interview with Le Journal du Dimanche weekly a day after the US, Britain and France carried out strikes in Syria, Le Drian said: "There are 2 million people in Idlib now, including hundreds of thousands of Syrians evacuated from rebel towns recaptured by the regime."

Held by an array of jihadists and rebels, Idlib province is the last in Syria largely beyond government control.

Speaking in Damascus this week, a senior Iranian official said he hoped Idlib would be the next area to be "liberated" by Iran ally President Bashar al-Assad, after the Syrian army&39;s recapture of the Eastern Ghouta region near Damascus with Russian backing.

The scorched-earth battle for Eastern Ghouta wound up shortly after a suspected chemical attack killed over 40 people and which the West blamed on Assad&39;s forces - allegations Assad and Russia flatly denied.

Le Drian said he hoped Saturday&39;s strikes, aimed at punishing the regime over its alleged use of toxic gas, would convince Russia to pressure Assad into negotiations on ending the seven-year war.

This Syrian girl hid her dolls inside a box, telling them "you&39;re going to suffocate in here, maybe, but at least you might be safe from the bombings." CNN reports from inside a refugee camp in Syria hours after a coordinated US-led airstrike hit the area. https://t.co/vxiFwlaTTppic.twitter.com/svIg5zpKnm